


Painted Face

by FanFicReader01



Series: Vampire Dads [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Coming of Age, Family, Ficlet, Fluff, Found Family, Gay dads, M/M, Parents, Slice of Life, Vampires, parenting, some vampire tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:41:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22148863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicReader01/pseuds/FanFicReader01
Summary: Two vampire dads and their little girl.
Series: Vampire Dads [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1598719
Kudos: 3





	Painted Face

## Age 8

Ever since the little girl learned that her fathers couldn’t see themselves in the reflection of a mirror, she’d started to commit to drawing. And so Karlus had bought her a whole pack of markers and pencils and Hob had given her a special sketchbook in which you could also paint.

From then on, she tried to draw as much as possible. She had to practice as much as possible before it would be Father’s Day.

***

“What are you drawing, dear?” Hob asks when he walks into the living room with a sliced and peeled apple for the little girl. As soon as the man gets too close, Chrissy hunches over her sketchbook and covers it with her arms and hands.

“Nothing. It’s… a secret,” she grumbles.

“Oh, a secret? I love secrets. Anyway, here’s some fruit,” Hob smiles and puts the tray next to her and walks out.

“T-thanks, dad.”

***

During dinner Karlus gets to sneak peak at his daughter’s sketchbook. She’s really into painting. So much, they had to eat in the kitchen because the whole table in the living room was covered with old news papers and tubes of paint.

“Looks like someone is going to be the next Picasso,” Karlus remarks.

“You bet,” Chrissy grins. She looks up to the tall man and shows her next piece. “What do you think? Like the colours?”

The vampire looks at the paper. There’s a wild variety of colours displayed. Most of them are mushed together, though.

“That’s a lot of earth tones,” Karlus mutters. “I like it.”

“I tried to match it to your skin!” Chrissy excitedly explains. _Oh_. Now Hob joins the others and gives the painting an observation as well. He chuckles.

“Is my skintone really that nauseating?” Karlus whispers, only in ear range of Hob.

The blond shrugs his shoulders. “I think it looks great. Come on, dinner is prepared.”

***

Finally the day has come. Father’s Day. Chrissy has worked on her little artwork the whole day. Some kids had also made a drawing. Others had written a card for their father. Some even had sewn something onto an oven mitten with the help of the teacher.

“You’re lucky, Chrissy,” one boy had said.

“Why?”

“You have _two_ dads. I only have one.”

Chrissy chuckled. “That’s true. But I no longer have a mom. I still miss her.”

School’s over at noon. It’s a Wednesday after all. Despite the weather being dark and rainy, Chrissy is excited. She knows her dads can pick her up while the sun isn’t out. In queues, each class gets out. It’s easy to recognise her fathers at the school square. They have the bright, pink Hello Kitty umbrella with them.

While Hob holds the umbrella, Karlus sinks to one knee to greet the girl. “There’s _mi hija_!” With ease he picks her up and swings her around, causing Hob to quickly adapt to their movement.

“Was it a nice day?” the blond smiles.

“Yes! We have to go home now! I made you two a present!”

“Very well. Let’s get to the car!”

During the trip home, Chrissy goes all silent. Hob gives her a questioning look. “Everything alright?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do today?”

“I told you already, I made a present! But if I tell about it now, it won’t be a surprise anymore.”

That makes Hob chuckle in relief. “Alright.”

At home, Hob and Karlus first get a letter. It’s cute and heart-warming. In the letter Chrissy basically mentions how glad she is with her new parents and how she’s so proud of her courageous dads who rescued her from the baddies.

Then the big surprise comes. The girl is ruffling through her backpack and then gets out a large rolled up piece of paper. She rolls it out on the table and Karlus and Hob give it a proper look.

On the left, there’s Hob. A very rectangular white painted face. His hair is made out of roughly drawn yellow sticks. He misses a complete ear. The scars are drawn with red and purple markers. A big patch of pink represents the burnt part of his face. Hob’s eyes are an electric blue. Of course, he is wearing a blue shirt.

Next to him, is Karlus. Chrissy used multiple colours all at once to create a grey, brownish skin tone. Spaghetti curls all around the head, form the hair. Karlus’ eyes are drawn with a yellow pencil. Since the man is kind of buff, Chrissy gave him balloon animal like arms.

“See? Now you don’t need a mirror. Just look at this picture!” Chrissy’s eyes glimmer. Karlus is wiping away a tear.

“That’s a lovely present.”

“Indeed! So _that’s_ why you were practicing so hard,” Hob smiles. He steps over to the girl and pats her head in an endearing way. “It’s really beautiful. I think we should frame this and hang it on the wall. What do you think, Karlus?”

“You’re serious?!” Chrissy exclaims.

Karlus nods in agreement with his partner. “Excellent idea.”

## Age 12

Karlus is patiently trying to go through an old sketchbook of Chrissy. In the meantime he gets a makeover by her. Now that she’s older, she’s gotten into makeup. The drawing days aren’t over yet, though. She now uses those skills to sketch out a new makeup idea.

Once Chrissy starts powdering Karlus’ face, the man starts coughing. “I think you’re overdoing it.”

“Just sit still! It’s because you’re moving too much!”

Karlus sighs and puts down the sketchbook. “Okay. I’ll focus more now.”

“Thanks.”

The minutes go slowly and Karlus is secretly happy he can’t see himself in the mirror he’s facing now. It’s funny to see the reflection: a hand painting into nothing.

“You’re done!” Chrissy claps her hands. At the same time, there are a few knocks on her door. “Come on in!”

“Thanks.” Hob appears. For a second he is stunned. He knew about this, but still. He has to hold in his laugh. For Chrissy.

“Look, dad! What do you think?”

Hob frowns and circles his partner to take in all the details. Karlus is giving him a subtle fierce look.

“Interesting. Maybe… a bit too much on the… lipstick part?”

Chrissy now frowns as well. She ogles Karlus’ mouth which is indeed having a rather thick layer of pink lipstick. Good, she can change that. She gets a towel and orders her father to press his lips onto it.

“Better?” Karlus asks.

Both father and daughter nod in response. Then the girl turns to Hob. “Hobbi?”

“Yes?”

“You got some… time to spare as well?”

If Hob could still get visibly flustered, he would’ve been a tomato. “I-, ehm… I actually should start prepping dinner.”

Karlus stands up and stops him. “I can do that for tonight. Spaghetti carbonara right? Easy.”

“Yes! Amazing! You know what? I’ll also paint your nails!” While the girl is setting up a new makeup kit, Hob shows Karlus the finger who only sniggers and quickly runs away.

## Age 18

“What’s this about?” Hob stammers confused when he gets home. On the kitchen table is a full supply of makeup. Behind it, stands Chrissy. She is no longer a baby girl anymore.

“If you’re coming to my graduation, you’ll have to look a little bit healthier.”

“I-, well.. I thought maybe you didn’t want me or Karlus at the graduation,” Hob mutters. Puberty, it made him clash more with his daughter than wanted. But that didn’t mean he didn’t want to show up at an important part of her life.

“Of course I want you two there too. I even got an invitation card for you two!” Chrissy snorts. Then she focuses on the makeup again. “There will be more people than just my classmates and their parents. I don’t want you to draw unwanted attention.”

Hob sighs.

Typical adolescents, being ashamed of their parents when with other peers. Being a vampire and being heavily scarred doesn’t help that factor either. But Chrissy is right. If they want to blend in, they’ll have to look as human as possible.

\--

On the day itself, Chrissy is already wearing her red dress and heels by the time Karlus and Hob have put on their suits.

“Look at these handsome men,” she chuckles. “Now the final touch.”

Karlus is first. He’s easier to work with for Chrissy. Less scars and all that stuff. Still, he poses some kind of challenge as he has a completely different skin tone than Chrissy. Then it’s time for Hob.

He kind of stares into the empty mirror while his daughter gives him a ‘makeover’.

“I know, dad. You don’t like it.”

“It’s fine, Chrissy-, Chris,” Hob reassures her.

“But I know you don’t like to hide your scars. Over a few hours you can wash your face.”

“Yeah.” Usually, Hob doesn’t give a shit about what people think of his appearance. He even likes the fear he sometimes causes by just walking around like that. But ever since he’s gotten a kid, he’s become more aware and maybe even more empathetic. That’s when shame sneaked in.

“Thank you, Chris. You’re really good at this, I must say,” Hob eventually remarks.

Once it’s done, Karlus drives them all to the theatre where the graduation will take place. It’s an exciting evening for everyone. While Chrissy goes inside to meet with her head teacher and fellow students, Karlus and Hob have to wait outside with the other parents.

Karlus squeezes his partner’s hand when he feels the nervousness. “It will be alright.”

“Yes. We do this for our daughter.”

“Exactly.”

A half hour later, the parents are invited inside and Karlus and Hob sit in the back. The blond has brought a photo camera. This moment will be remembered. But before Chrissy’s class comes up, a few other classes get on stage as well. Then it’s their daughter’s turn.

Both parents explicitly cheer her on and both just _know_ that Chrissy is rolling her eyes at them.

Afterward, there’s some snacks and drinks and the family reunites at a table.

“Congratulations,” Karlus exclaims. Hob raises his glass to Chrissy.

“Thanks, dads. It really means a lot to me. That you’re all here. Even if… if we’ve had some fights the past couple of weeks.” The girl lowers her eyes but Hob shakes his head.

“That’s alright. I don’t expect us to _always_ get along. You’re becoming more and more independent every day and that’s a good sign!”

“I guess.”

“Hob’s right. One day, you’ll have to do it all on your own,” Karlus nods.

“Well, first you wanted to go to college, right?”

“Yes. That’s my next step,” the girl smiles. “I still need to find a room.”

“We’ll help with that. If you want,” Hob immediately reassures. That earns him an unexpected hug. Karlus gets one as well. “I’m forever grateful to have you two as my parents,” Chrissy smiles.


End file.
